State Farm to Pay $250 Million for Secretly Funding Illinois Supreme Court Campaign

State Farm has agreed to pay $250 million to settle a class action claiming the insurer created a RICO enterprise to secretly fund the election of Illinois Supreme Court Justice Lloyd Karmeier, who later voted to overturn a $1.05 billion verdict against the Illinois-based company, The Associated Press reports. The class-action lawsuit sought nearly $10 billion from State Farm in a trial that was scheduled to begin Tuesday. The allegations center around the 2005 case of Avery v. State Farm, Karmeier cast the deciding vote to reverse a $1.06 billion judgment in 1999 against State Farm for its use of aftermarket car parts in repairs.